Will Compaq change direction on Alpha?

New broom may sweep clean

The departure of Eckhard Pfeiffer as CEO of Compaq two weeks ago could spell a sea change in the company's chip strategy. Pfeiffer, a long-time fan of Alpha technology, promoted the platform vigorously during his reign at Compaq. But strife between two networking divisions -- one from the old Digital guard and the other from the old Compaq guard -- helped cause his downfall.

According to an ex-Compaq employee, both divisions, which still exist, were competing with each other to sell Intel vs Alpha enterprise boxes. Now the questions which dogged Pfeiffer after he master-minded the takeover of Digital have started to re-appear. The management at Compaq want to repair the rifts between it and Intel, we understand. ®